Our Farming Roots – In Partnership with Russell Smith Farms
Built on Real Farming, Led by Real Farmers
At Cambridge Drone Services, our technology is shaped, guided and backed by real farming experience. The business is built in partnership with Robert Smith, the farmer behind the highly respected Russell Smith Farms in Duxford.
This partnership means that every workflow, every map and every piece of analysis is grounded in the day-to-day realities of running a large, modern farming business. We don’t operate from the outside looking in — we build our services alongside someone who farms at scale.
Our drone tools aren’t just technically strong — they’re farmer-led, farmer-tested and farmer-approved.
A Farming Legacy in Duxford Since 1938
Russell Smith Farms is based at College Farm, Duxford, where the Smith family has been farming since 1938. The business began under Guy Smith, who farmed around 1,000 acres of cereals. In the late 1970s he introduced potatoes to the farm, setting the foundations for the modern operation.
When his son Robert Smith joined the business, he made the bold decision to expand the vegetable enterprise. With major investment in irrigation, reservoirs and equipment, the farm grew from a 1,000-acre cereal unit into a 2,800-acre vegetable and arable enterprise supplying UK supermarkets.
The farm now grows:
- Potatoes
- Onions
- Winter wheat and other cereals
- Oilseed rape
- Sugar beet
- Peas
- Organic wheat, potatoes and onions
This variety provides us with ideal conditions for validating drone mapping across a diverse set of crops and soil types.
A Progressive Farm Driving Real-World Innovation
Russell Smith Farms is known for embracing new ideas and technology — making it the ideal partner for Cambridge Drone Services.
Robert Smith is not just an advisor — he is a major partner in Cambridge Drone Services.
His role includes:
- Strategic direction and business decision-making
- Leading how drone outputs integrate into real farming workflows
- Ensuring services align with agronomy, logistics and crop timings
- Providing trial areas across a wide variety of crops
Having Robert as a core part of the business ensures our services always stay practical, relevant and beneficial to farmers..
The farm features:
Four on-farm reservoirs, including a major 100-million-gallon reservoir completed several years ago
INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
Partnerships with leading plant breeders KWS and RAGT
Long-standing relationships with Syngenta and Bayer
Founding membership of Agri-Tech East
This progressive environment allows us to trial new mapping approaches, test algorithms on real crops and refine VRA strategies long before offering them to customers.
Robert’s operational knowledge and farm-level decision-making make sure our tools fit seamlessly into real agronomy, not just theory..
AWARD STRIP
Russell Smith Farms has been recognised nationally for its farming standards, environmental work and business excellence:
- FWAG East Farm Conservation Award – Winner (2015)
- Silver Lapwing Conservation Award – Finalist (2015)
- Farmers Weekly Employer of the Year – Finalist (2015)
- Farm Champion – East of England Agricultural Society (2013)
- Farm Business Awards – Supreme Champion (2010)
- Farmers Weekly Farm Manager of the Year – Finalist (2011)
ENVIRONMENT & WILDLIFE
Sustainable, Responsible Farming
Environmental responsibility is a core value at Russell Smith Farms — and a major influence on how Cambridge Drone Services approaches mapping, input targeting and SFI support.
The farm is a LEAF Demonstration Farm, operating an Integrated Farm Management system that blends traditional practices with modern technology.
- Environmental stewardship includes:
- Grass margins
- Beetle banks
- Overwintered stubbles
- Wild bird seed mixes
- Pollen and nectar strips
- Skylark plots
- Multi-year hedgerow management
Wildlife such as grey partridge, bullfinch, green woodpecker and lapwing have all increased thanks to this work.
This ethos aligns directly with drone mapping’s ability to reduce waste, target inputs and support SFI evidence and compliance.
Farmer-Led Mapping. Field-Tested Results.
Our partnership with Robert Smith and Russell Smith Farms ensures that all Cambridge Drone Services workflows are guided by real-world agronomy and practical field experience.
This gives our clients:
- Mapping tools shaped by a real working farm
- Vegetation indices validated across multiple crops and soil types
- VRA logic tested on potatoes, onions, cereals, OSR and sugar beet
- Spot-spraying and targeted input maps based on real weed and stress patterns
- Drone outputs aligned with agronomy, compliance and SFI requirements
When you use our services, you’re benefiting from systems developed and tested on a major commercial farm — not a theoretical model..
From Our Own Fields to Yours
Our partnership with Russell Smith Farms allows us to bring proven, farmer-led drone mapping to farms across Cambridgeshire and beyond.
Because we don’t just map fields —
we farm them too.
See How Our Mapping Works
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